This Man Needs a Doctor!
by korvascus
Summary: The Doctor, Red Forman and Donna Pinciotti land on Priyana 2 to find medical help for their wounded friend. What they end up finding is somewhat more sinister than overzealous nurses. *Part 3 in my Doctor Who/That 70's show crossover series
1. Chapter 1

**WARNING!** Do not read this before reading "The Doctor Returns to Point Place." It is a direct continuation of that story and you won't have a clue as to what's going on unless you do.

* * *

><p>The TARDIS settled down with a solid thump. The Doctor adjusted a few controls at the main console and then looked up.<p>

"Welcome to Priyana 2."

Red Forman looked at the Doctor from where he had been idly running his hand over one of the coral support beams. "What, just like that? Less than five minutes later and we're on another planet?"

"Yup," the Doctor grinned, despite the seriousness of the situation. "Four hundred and thirty light years and two hundred and sixteen years in just under five minutes. Not bad if I say so myself."

"Wait, what do you mean two hundred and sixteen years?" Donna Pinciotti asked.

"Oh," the Doctor replied. "Didn't I mention it could travel in time as well?" As he said this he started walking towards the corridor leading off to the rest of the ship. "Let's go get your friend and get him the help he needs. A few hours at most, and we'll be on our way back to Earth."

Red and Donna quickly hurried after the Doctor. As much as they were both fascinated by the idea that they had just traveled through time, time could wait. Saving the life of Stephen Hyde came first.

After loading the still frozen body of Hyde onto and anti-grav stretcher, the trio made their way to the front door of the TARDIS.

"Don't we have to thaw him out first or something?" Donna asked as she walked next to the stretcher, one hand resting lightly on it as she helped guide it.

"They'll have the proper equipment for that in the hospital," the Doctor announced as he opened the door.

They stepped out into a dim, dank corridor with thick metal pipes running its length overhead. Concrete walls painted a sickly yellow-green flanked them and the floor was a dull gray with occasional puddles of brownish goo here and there.

"This doesn't look like any hospital I've ever seen," Donna commented worriedly.

"No, we're definitely in the right place," the Doctor said as he studied the readings from his sonic, which he had surreptitiously pulled from his suit pocket. "I think we're just in the basement."

"I hope so," Red said as he glanced around. "I wouldn't want Steven being treated in a place like this." His face wrinkled up in displeasure as he continued to scan the corridor they stood in.

The Doctor replaced the sonic in his pocket. "What say we find a lift and get Steven here some treatment?"

The three of them cautiously walked down the corridor making sure to steer clear of the brown goo.

"Here we are then," the Doctor said a moment later as he stopped in front of a clearly marked lift.

He pressed the button to summon it and they saw as the number above the doors started to drop from where it currently stood at 83.

"Eighty-three floors!" Donna exclaimed.

"Actually, if I remember correctly there should be 86," the Doctor corrected.

"That's a hell of a large hospital," Red said.

"Well it had to be," the Doctor replied. "The Priyanians were fighting a war with the Drex on the next planet over. They needed a large enough facility to handle all the casualties."

"War!" Red said, sounding alarmed.

"It's been over for almost a century by now," the Doctor said reassuring him. Just then, the lift arrived.

As they started maneuvering the stretcher into the lift Donna let out a small shriek and her hand flew to her head.

"What is it?" Red asked.

"Something just dripped on me," she said as she brought her hand down to look at the brown goo that was now on her fingers. "Yuck!" she said, looking up for the source of the drip. "I hope this isn't what I think it is." She brought her finger up to her nose to smell it, then thought better of it and wiped it on the wall.

Although Red was able to bite back the comment he was about to fire at Donna, he couldn't hide the smirk that came to his face. The Doctor's face meanwhile had a thoughtful look on it as he stared at Donna's hair and the goo she had deposited on the wall.

"Let's go," Donna said, pulling him from his thoughts. "I want to find a sink. This stuff is disgusting." She held up her finger to show the two men the residue that coated it, as if they might not believe her otherwise.

"Right," the Doctor said. "Please take us to the emergency trauma center," he asked of no one in particular.

Red was about to ask him who the hell he was talking to when the lift started moving.

"Voice activated lift," the Doctor said, giving Red a grin.

A moment later the doors opened, depositing them into the emergency trauma center, and right into chaos.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This is a very short chapter, but I felt bad that I hadn't posted anything in a while. I felt that I should let you guys know that I haven't abandoned this story.

* * *

><p>Well, perhaps chaos wasn't the right word. But something was definitely wrong. The lights were on, everything was neat and tidy, but there was nobody there.<p>

"Hullo," the Doctor called out uncertainly as they exited the lift. He glanced nervously around the floor they had just arrived on before making his way to the nearest computer terminal behind the receptionist's desk.

Slipping on his glasses, he accessed the terminal. After a moment his features turned grim. "Oh, this is not good," he said. "Not good at all."

"What?" Donna asked. "What's not good?"

The Doctor continued looking at the screen for another moment before he looked at Donna and Red. "We have to go to floor 28," He said.

"Floor 28!" Red exclaimed. "But I thought you said this floor was the emergency trauma center. That Steven could get help here." He paused as he glanced around the deserted hallway. "Where is everyone anyway!" he asked.

"On floor 28," the Doctor replied. "In the isolation ward."

"What, the whole hospital?" Red asked incredulously.

"Apparently," the Doctor nodded.

"So then let's get the hell out of here," Red said. "If there's nobody here to help us, then we'll have to go someplace else. Surely in all of time and space there's another hospital that's properly equipped to help Steven?"

"Yeah," Donna agreed. "Besides, if everyone is in isolation, why would we want to risk going there and getting exposed ourselves?"

"No, you misunderstand me," the Doctor stated. "It's the rest of the hospital that's been contaminated. The isolation ward is the only place left in the whole building that's safe."

"Safe from what?" Donna asked, suddenly scared, glancing about as if something menacing might jump out at her at any second.

The Doctor ignored the question as he put his glasses away.

"Well why don't we just leave?" Red demanded again.

The Doctor still refused to speak as he walked past Red into the lift.

"Hey buddy, I'm talking to you," Red said angrily as he put his hand on the Doctor's shoulder and spun him around.

"We're not leaving," the Doctor shouted, "because Donna's infected."

* * *

><p>Red and Donna just stared at the Doctor for a long moment. "What do you mean I'm infected?" Donna finally gasped.<p>

"The computer said that the infection is spread by contact with an organism that has the appearance of a brownish goo," the Doctor said.

Donna's hand automatically reached for her hair, where a bit of the goo was still stuck in it. Her normally flush complexion had gone ghostly pale. "What's going to happen to me?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

"I'm not sure," the Doctor admitted. "That's why we have to go to the isolation ward. We need to find someone who can give us some more information." He pressed the button for the proper floor and the lift began to descend.

"Dammit Donna," Red yelled, although he was more troubled than angry. "I told you you should have stayed back home. Now look what's happened."

Donna slumped against the wall, tears starting to leak from her eyes. "Thanks Red," she said bitterly. "It's not as if I don't feel bad enough as it is."

Red looked wounded by her words and started to move in to pat her reassuringly on the back, then remembered that she was infected, and let his hand drop impotently to his side.

The three of them stood around Hyde's frozen body in silence as the lift continued it descent.

A moment later the doors opened up on floor 28. The lift disgorged them into an empty corridor that abruptly terminated at an imposing steel door a few feet in front of them. A harsh red light came from a bulb over the door and a small electronic box, clearly an intercom, was built into the wall beside the door.

"I guess we should see if anyone's home," the Doctor said as he reached for the intercom.


	3. Chapter 3

Nurse Patel was in the process of cataloguing the remaining food supplies in the isolation ward when she heard the strangest sound; the door buzzer. Her heart leapt in her chest. Was it possible? Was the danger over? Had they come to tell them they could go home? As she bolted to answer the door, she saw the other nurses and doctors and even a few of the patients turn eagerly towards the sound of their salvation. And it was about time. They only had enough food left for a few more days.

When she reached the inner door to the isolation ward, she paused for a moment, heart doing somersaults in her chest, before activating the intercom. "Yes?" she said eagerly.

"Hi, I was wondering if we could get your help out here?" came a strange voice that she didn't recognize. Patel's heart sunk. This was not Daniels or any other member of the decontamination team telling them that it was safe to come out. She had no clue who this was. Or how they had managed to gain entry to a hospital that was in a level 1 lockdown.

Momentarily pushing her despair aside she asked in a crisp voice "Who is this?"

"This is the Doctor. I'm also with Red Foreman, a lovely girl named Donna and a young man named Steven Hyde, who is in urgent need of medical care."

"Which Doctor?" Patel asked incredulously. "All Doctors are either in here with me or out there in a coma from the contagion."

"I'm actually not a Doctor from this hospital. Just kinda passing through. And what kind of contagion are you talking about? One of your computers made mention of it, but it didn't go into much detail about what precisely is going on."

Patel paused for a moment. She knew she didn't have to tell these people anything. She could simply remove her finger from the intercom and leave them standing in the corridor. But she supposed that this was better than cataloguing their dwindling food supply for the umpteenth time.

"It doesn't have a name yet," she began, "but it started two weeks ago. We received a large delivery of perchlorian gel and one of the crates it came in had been contaminated with brown goo. At first we thought nothing of it, but within a few hours, people started slipping into comas. Within a day and a half, most of the hospital was infected. There are only fifty of us in here now. Twelve doctors, ten nurses including myself, two administrators and the rest are patients. Everyone else is out there lying in a bed somewhere or on the floor wherever they collapsed."

"How is it possible that one crate worth of that stuff could infect the whole hospital?"

"It seems to be spreading or rather reproducing at a tremendous rate. It's obviously some sort of life form."

"Maybe I can help you," the Doctor said thoughtfully.

"Why, do you know what this thing is?" Patel asked, hope once again creeping into her voice.

"No, not in this particular situation, but I have come across similar things in the past. I think you'll find that I can be quite helpful."

"We're certainly not in a position to turn down any help," Patel admitted.

"Good," the Doctor said. "Have you established how the contagion affects the patients?"

"Yes," Patel started. "It seems to feed off of electrical activity in the brain. In and of itself, it doesn't seem to be dangerous; it's not damaging the brain or the body of the patient in any way. But as it consumes a significant portion of the electrical impulses in the brain, the patient invariably falls into unconsciousness, generally within a few hours of being infected."

Donna shot a nervous look at the Doctor. He glanced back at her, trying to convey a sense of calm but not really succeeding.

"I take it you're working on a cure?" the Doctor asked.

"We are, but progress is quite slow as we're rather understaffed for that," Patel said.

"But what about the rest of the planet?" the Doctor asked somewhat perplexed. "Surely they're helping out with that?"

"Afraid not," Patel sighed. "For reasons that we have yet to determine, we have been unable to get in contact with anyone outside the hospital since this whole thing started."

"And since you're in a level 1 lockdown, no one can get into the hospital until the all clear is given," the Doctor said, finishing the thought.

"Exactly," Patel agreed. "Which brings up the question of how you managed to get in here?"

The Doctor was about to answer when Donna suddenly slumped against the wall and fell over.

"Donna!" The Doctor and Red both shouted at the same time as they rushed over to her. Red was about to grab her when the Doctor pulled him away. "Don't touch her!" he shouted.

Red grudgingly pulled his arms away from her slumped form.

"From what nurse Patel said, she's not in any immediate danger."

"So what are we going to do," Red demanded, anger barely in check. "Just leave her here in the hallway?"

"We don't seem to have much of a choice at the moment."

"If anything happens to her…" Red said, leaving the threat hanging in the air.

"Don't worry," the Doctor said sternly. "She's going to be fine. I give you my word that she's going to be fine."

Red didn't respond to this. He could see that the Doctor was dead serious.

"Doctor, are you there?" the voice of nurse Patel came from the abandoned intercom. "Is everything alright out there?"

"Yes," the doctor responded. "Well sort of. Donna just lost consciousness."

"I'm sorry," Patel said honestly. "Are the rest of you infected as well?"

"Not as far as we know," the Doctor said. "But Mister Hyde here is in a far worse state than simple unconsciousness. If he's not treated soon, he's going to die."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"He's been poisoned with bycinic acid."

We have the antidote for that here in the hospital," Patel began, "but we don't have it with us in isolation. It's in the main medical storage on the eighth floor."

"Okay." The Doctor paused for a second. "Where are the labs located in the hospital? I want to start running some tests on this goo. See if I can't find out what makes it tick."

"Floor 29," Patel said. "But it's a secure area. You need special clearance to get in their. In fact the same is true with medical storage."

"That shouldn't be a problem," the Doctor said as he patted his sonic screwdriver comfortingly. "Thanks for your help Nurse Patel. I'll let you know as soon as I've come up with something."

"Good luck to you Doctor," Patel said. Then she clicked off the intercom. Patel stood there for a moment thinking. This Doctor fellow seemed very sure of himself. She only hoped that he could produce results. As she glanced around the isolation ward a chill ran down her spine. She really didn't want this to become her tomb.

* * *

><p>The Doctor looked at Red. "Okay, Red, here's the plan. First we're going to go to the main medical storage where I'm going to open the door for you. Then you're going to find the antidote to the bycinic acid."<p>

"Wait a second," Red said. "I'm just a little bit out of my element here. I don't have a clue as to where it would be, what it looks like, or what it's called. How the hell am I supposed to find it?"

"There should be a directory listing where everything is. Antidotes should be grouped together in alphabetical order, although in this case it's the Priyanian alphabet-"

"That's another thing," Red interrupted. "How can I read anything if it's all in an alien language?"

"Oh, reading it shouldn't be an issue. The TARDIS translation matrix should translate everything into English for you. Anyway, the antidote should be labeled 'Trelium'. It's a wonderful drug, capable of curing a large number of poisons. In fact, mixed with a bit of gin and tonic it also makes a rather good drink. I remember this one time on the cloud city of Margelbund I was…" the Doctor trailed off as he saw Red glaring at him.

"Sorry," the Doctor said sheepishly. "I have a habit of going off on tangents." He cleared his throat loudly. "Anyway, once you get that antidote, bring it back to Steven and inject it into the side of his neck-"

"Wait a second," Red said, interrupting again. "I'm not a doctor. I don't know the first thing about needles and injections."

The Doctor looked momentarily confused. "Needles?" he questioned. "Oh, no," he said a grin replacing the puzzled look on his face. "No, no, no. No needles. Those haven't been used for centuries here. They have these things that," he paused for a moment as he struggled to find the right word. He snapped his fingers. "Star Trek," he exclaimed. "Have you ever seen Star Trek?"

Red looked a bit embarrassed. "I have seen a few episodes, yes." Suddenly realization dawned in his eyes. "You mean they have something like a hypospray?"

"Exactly!" the Doctor said nodding enthusiastically. "That's exactly what it is. There should be a bin somewhere in medical storage with hyposprays. Just grab one and load the Trelium into it and then you're good to go. Place the hypo up to Stephen's neck, press the button, and that's all there is too it. He'll be up and about in no time." The Doctor glanced at Hyde's unmoving form. "But you'll have to hurry. He's going to be completely thawed out in less than an hour. He won't have much time once that happens."

With this in mind, the two of them started walking towards the lift.

"And what are you going to be doing while I find this Trelium?" Red questioned as the Doctor announced to the lift that they wanted the eighth floor.

"I'm going to be trying to come up with a cure for the contagion in one of the hospital's labs. We have to help these people."


End file.
